The present invention relates to laminated glass panels and, more particularly, to a method of manufacturing curved laminated glass panels from flat sheets of heat strengthened or tempered glass.
Generally, methods for forming curved laminated glass panels such as, for example, glass panels for use as windshields, require that the glass sheets used in forming the panels be curved prior to the lamination process. These processes for forming pre-curved glass sheets are generally expensive. In addition, it is difficult to strengthen or temper preformed glass prior to lamination. For this reason, most curved glass laminating methods use annealed glass for the laminating process. However, curved laminated glass products made of annealed glass are subject to breakage upon small impacts or twisting. Accordingly, systems requiring tempered or strengthened pre-curved glass for laminating require very expensive curve glass tempering or strengthening apparatus.